Hollywood is traditionally thought of as a town, and an industry, where most people's politics sit well to the left of center.

DATEBOOK

"AMC Project: Rated R: Republicans in Hollywood"

A documentary asks how Republicans get along in a liberal atmosphere. 10 tonight on AMC.

But according to a new documentary, this tradition may be changing a bit.

In "Rated R: Republicans in Hollywood," premiering tonight on AMC, New York-based documentary filmmaker and former Democratic speechwriter Jesse Moss heads to Los Angeles to see what it means to lean to the right in the entertainment capital. Moss follows the contentious but successful gubernatorial campaign of Republican movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"Do politics matter in Hollywood?" Moss asks. "And if they do, was Hollywood changing, was it really as left-wing as we all think? I hope the audience draws their own conclusions, but what I discovered is that I think there's a change afoot in Hollywood. There's less of a stigma attached to being a conservative or a Republican."

Moss ties this to Schwarzenegger's election. "You see in the film that, for young Republicans, young conservatives, it was like political cover for them. It energized them and mobilized them, brought them together, gave them role models. They've found a new confidence."

But the conservative voice in Hollywood is not monolithic, as writer, actor and game-show host Ben Stein, a former Nixon speechwriter, expresses doubts about Schwarzenegger's pro-choice beliefs.

Moss also weighs the cost of swimming against the political tide, saying, "As you see in the film, there are people who expressed concern whether their political views will stigmatize them."

More than a half-century after the infamous era of the Hollywood blacklist, in which even a suggestion of communist leanings could and did torpedo careers and ruin lives, Moss seeks to learn if any sort of reverse discrimination is going on.

Also on hand is Drew Carey, a self-defined Libertarian (which he describes as "a conservative who still gets high"), who comments that his views have cost him some jobs.

Moss also talks to William Morris agent Sam Haskell. "He said that he didn't feel like having conservative views had ever hurt him or hurt his clients. Of course, he can't speak for the whole industry."

"When you talk about blacklisting, does it go on? Yes," he says. "Is it understood? No. They don't make the connection. I would make this distinction: With the blacklist, if you were a communist, you didn't work. It didn't matter how well you did, you were not going to work.

"What we have here is a whitelist. There is a list, and the difference (with) a whitelist is, you're not really acceptable in polite company. However, if you are necessary and useful to a project, you can be used, and that can be done without reflecting poorly on the employer."

Sometimes, as Moss discovered, you find conservatives in unexpected places.

"The person who surprised many people in my film is Vincent Gallo," Moss says. "He's a New York, downtown director, filmmaker, very edgy. That surprises a lot of people.

"Maybe the bottom line here is, 'Are you good?' I think there's truth to that."

Moss also visits Act One, which describes itself as a "comprehensive training and mentorship center created to form the next generation of Christian artists and professionals." Its faculty includes interviewee Dean Batali, a writer and producer for "That '70s Show."

"They carry the stigma with them that, for many people in Hollywood, the church is seen as a form of censorship." Moss says. "They want to make mainstream films that maybe reflect their Christian faith."

At the end of the documentary, Moss lists five performers – Mel Gibson, Chuck Norris, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Bruce Willis and Heather Locklear – who declined to participate, for unnamed reasons.

Attendees at a party for the Hollywood Congress of Republicans cited them as being "either Republican stars, sympathetic to Republicans or sympathetic to free-market ideals."

Moss says, "The reason I mentioned them is that they're the people that the young Hollywood Republicans at the party (in the film) mentioned as their role models. That's who they name.

"I wanted (it) for people who might have questions about ... where are those people in this film? I wanted people to know I'd asked. It's not a value judgment on them or their views by any means."

"Rated R" also had a personal impact on Moss, who states in his narration, "I didn't expect to like the people I met making this film, but I did. I just don't happen to agree with them."

"I guess, what I don't know, I fear," Moss says. "I thought that maybe because of my political views, when I was in the room with someone, it would be difficult for me to hear them talk about their politics. But really, I found it interesting as a filmmaker, as an explorer on a journey, to sit down and talk to them."

He adds, "I didn't know what I would find. It's the fear of the unknown, if you will."

Although Moss got the sense that things are changing, Chetwynd still cautions would-be Hollywood conservatives.

"You have two choices," he says, "one is to bury (your politics) and just go about your business. The other one is to be open about what you are. You cannot get caught between two stools."

Chetwynd chose to go public. "It's too hard (otherwise). It's never the crime; it's the lie. It's not in my nature, it never was. That's what my choice was, and I have survived and succeeded and flourished in spite of it.

"I know the price I paid socially, and I know the price I paid professionally."